Warmth
by downpours
Summary: For the One Blanket Scenario. Shikamaru and Ino are stuck in a cabin in the middle of a blizzard, and there’s only one blanket around.


_**Title: **Warmth_

_**Description: **For the One Blanket Scenario. Shikamaru and Ino are stuck in a cabin in the middle of a blizzard, and there's only one blanket around. _

_**Series: **Naruto_

**Disclaimer: **insert witty I-don't-own-this-series-please-don't-sue-me phrase here.

Shikamaru hated the cold because it was much too troublesome. He also hated missions that sent them to the middle of nowhere. It was great that they had accomplished the mission by this point, but the trip on the way back was giving them one hell of a time of a difficult time.

"Nobody said anything about a troublesome blizzard…" Shikamaru mumbled under his breath. He looked behind him to Ino who had been complaining all the way. He could hardly see her or the path they were walking now, as hard white ice hit his skin and blurred his eyesight. It was so cold, if they didn't find a place soon; he was going to freeze to death. And he knew that Ino didn't have it any better.

Ino had been saying the same thing for the past minute, but Shikamaru couldn't quite understand it. He figured it was probably another complaint, and it would be less troublesome to just _pretend_ listening, rather than doing so at all. Finally, he understood her words loud and clear when she finally caught up to him.

"Shikamaru! Hold my hand, dammit." Ino growled. "If you keep leaving me behind, I'm probably going to die here and haunt your dreams! I don't care if it's troublesome for you, just _don't leave me behind_."

"Huh?" Shikamaru blinked. That was a strange request, coming from her. Before he could protest, she reached out and tightly grabbed his hand. Her hand was so cold, even colder than his, and he winced at the sudden change of temperature. He was correct—she didn't have it any better, as he realized that her body temperature was quickly going down. They needed to find a place soon—_fast._

"T-there!" Ino said, her face lightening up despite the blue color that was starting to envelope her usually glowing skin.

"A-ah, yes." Shikamaru replied as he looked out to where she was pointing. There was a small run down cabin that would most likely serve as their shelter for the night. _Finally._

They used all their remaining stamina to force their way into the cabin, and Ino let go of his hand and rushed inside. "Ahhh!" She said, her shoulders shivering as she put her arms around herself. Shikamaru shut the door behind him. The cabin was warmer than outside, but the loud blizzard could still be heard as it pelted on the outside walls and the roof. It was still freezing, but fortunately, much lesser than outside.

The blanket was dark, and there didn't seem to be any sources of light. The two of them could only make out their surroundings by silhouettes.

"There's only o-o-one b-b-blanket!" Ino hissed, her teeth clacking against each other. She was rubbing her arms in a futile effort to try to get back to normal body temperature. She gave Shikamaru an icy glare. "Aren't you cold at all?!"

"I am." Shikamaru replied. He was telling the truth, but she didn't seem to want to believe him. The reason Ino was having it harder was because Shikamaru was more used to missions like this, after all.

Ino gave him one last glare and got on the bed and crawled under the blanket. "T-t-this bed is hard as h-hell." She muttered.

Shikamaru sighed. In spite of her condition, his childhood friend still had the gall to complain.

"Ino, do you know about hypothermia?" Shikamaru asked as he walked up to her, hands in pockets. Ino peeked out at him from under the covers of 'her' blanket.

"Of c-c-course I d-do. Do I look like an idiot t-t-to you?" She replied in the meanest way possible.

'Oh, great. She's in the mood to be cranky. _That_ would make it easier.' Shikamaru thought in his mind. He then said to Ino in the calmest way he could muster, "I think you need to get out of those drenched clothing, it'll just make it worse. Then we'll think of a way to make your body warm again, alright?"

He fiddled the inside of his pockets nervously as he said this, a tinge of red on his cheeks. No matter, what needed to be said was done.

"Shikamaru, you're not planning to do something with me, your childhood friend, are you?" Ino replied, eyes wide. It was a wonder that she said _this_ sentence without clacking teeth. Maybe the blush that crept up to her face was helping warm her. Uh, good?

"O-of course not!" Shikamaru retorted. "But if you're dead by the time we get back to Konoha, imagine what your dad would do to me!" Was that a good enough reason? He couldn't think of anything else. Ino's dad was a pretty scary person, so maybe it would work.

"F-fine, f-f-fine…" Ino said as she sat up straight. "Come h-h-here."

Shikamaru blinked and approached her, and she pulled him down by the sleeve. He was surprised when she suddenly pulled off his chuunin vest.

"What the—Ino?!" Shikamaru growled as she pulled off the shirt under his vest. Under was a black shirt, just slightly wet.

"Ha! I k-knew it!" Ino retorted. "You're the o-only loser who a-a-actually used the Konoha uniform, but I'm p-pretty smart enough to know that t-t-he second layer is waterproof. Give me this shirt then, t-t-the one that's d-d-d-d-dry."

He was starting to get annoyed by the way she talked, and with a sigh, he just pulled the said shirt off and handed it to her.

"Now turn around." She ordered with a huff.

"Never knew you were so modest." He muttered as he turned around. Luckily, Ino didn't quite catch what he said and just ignored it. After a while, Shikamaru heard the sound of wet cloth hitting wood, and he looked down to his side to see the drenched clothes of Ino.

"Night." Ino said as she covered herself with the blanket.

"W-wait. There's one more thing…" Shikamaru flustered again as he turned around to face her. She pulled down the cover and peered at him curiously. She was _still_ blue and freezing, and it was any other normal human being, she really would have passed out by now. And she would probably do so in awhile if they didn't do the last thing that was taught to them in survival training about hypothermia.

She stared at him for a while. Shikamaru knew she was no idiot, and he know that she knew what had to be done next.

"Fine." Ino mumbled as she rolled to the other side of the bed. Shikamaru nervously got under the blanket. Either of them didn't know why they were both so nervous—they've both been this close before. They denied the fact that being half-naked on a bed probably implied something else.

With a sigh, Shikamaru turned on his side and pulled Ino close, wrapping one hand around her waist. He felt Ino's breath on his neck and shivered.

The two of them stayed quiet for a while, and Ino buried her face on the slant of his neck, taking advantage of his warmth. He smelled like some kind of spice, just like the black shirt she was currently wearing. Shikamaru always did smell nice, she was just too naïve to admit that she even noticed.

He started rubbing her legs and arms with the palm of his hand to warm them, and though he wasn't shivering of the cold, Ino realized he was nervous and shaking anyway.

"How troublesome…" He muttered.

"T-thanks, Shika..." Her eyes slowly started to close, which made Shikamaru panic.

"W-wait, no." He said, shaking her shoulders. "Don't fall asleep, that would be dangerous."

It was no use.

"D-darn it…" Shikamaru groaned to himself. He stared at her face—so serene—and so blue. Furiously, reached over and kissed her. It took her a couple of moments to stir and to realize what was going on, and when she finally came to, her eyes widened.

Her first instinct was to slap him, but then she realized—it felt good. Wait, no, this was wrong! No, not wrong… just, _surprising; _but good surprising.

"S-shikamaru!" She hissed as he pulled away. "What do you think you're doing?!"

He blinked. What _was_ he thinking? The reason of 'your dad scares me' didn't seem appropriate in this situation, and he felt his brain going to panic mode and shutting itself down.

"I… I-I was…" His face was red. Ino glared at him, and thankfully, her face was going back to normal color now. "I wanted to bring the color back in your face."

She blinked.

He stared at her nervously.

"Well, that's original." She replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close again.

_**The End.**_

_**A/N: **I hope I didn't make them too OOC. : _


End file.
